Cookies, of course, are delicious on their own, but you can make them even more special by decorating them. It doesn’t take forever – many biscuits can be decorated in a couple of minutes simply by sprinkling them with nuts or seeds. Decorating biscuits is also a great way to get the kids involved, as they’ll be even more enthusiastic about helping to weigh, mix and shape the biscuits if they know they’ll be decorating them too. You could even have a biscuit decorating party for your child’s birthday. Just give them a set of biscuits in different shapes and sizes, different types of icing, as well as biscuit cutters, edible icing pens, glitter and sprinkles, and let them create. If you’re worried they’ll make a mess in the process, it’s worth putting a large sheet of plastic or newspaper under the table to collect any spillages. Older children can also make their own biscuits using the stencils in the book, or even make up their own stencils.

There are different types of biscuit dough in this book: some are soft and can be kneaded with a spoon, some roll into balls and flatten in your hands, and some need to be rolled like dough. With more than 70 recipes for sweet and savoury cookies, the only thing that’s difficult is not eating them all at once.

Author: Bethany Heald
Published:  2006
Original language:  English
Literary Genre: Baking Cookbooks for Beginners